Glencore zinc and nickel output drops

Swiss commodities giant Glencore said Wednesday it produced more copper, coal and oil in the first six months of 2014 than the same period a year ago, but nickel and zinc output dropped on mine closures and reserve depletion.

The world's fourth-largest mining company following the takeover of Xstrata last year said first-half copper production rose 13% to 741,000 tonnes year on year, due to a ramp-up at its Mutanda mine in Congo and a better performance from its massive Collahuasi mine in Chile.

Compared to the previous half-year production fell by 12% however thanks to lower grades in Chile and maintenance shutdowns at Mopani in Zambia, Australia's Mount Isa mine and Collahuasi.

Glencore, headquartered-in Baar, also said the sale of Las Bambas completed at the end of July provided the company proceeds, net of tax, of approximately $6.5 billion, including the reimbursement of capital expenditure and other project costs incurred since 1 January 2014.

Las Bambas, bought by a Chinese group, is set to enter production next year and at 400,000 tonnes of copper as well as significant amounts of silver and gold.

Own sourced zinc production was 650,400 tonnes, down 11%, primarily due to Perseverance and Brunswick mines having depleted their reserves in June 2013.

Sequential half-yearly production was broadly in line, reflecting Perkoa ramp-up, largely offsetting mine sequencing lower grades at Antamina and "some opportunistic favouring of 3rd party feed at Kazzinc," the company said in a statement.

Own sourced nickel production was 49,100 tonnes, down 8%, reflecting the Sinclair and Cosmos mines' mothballing in Australia and after putting the Falcondo mine in the Dominican Republic on care and maintenance.

Sequential half-yearly production was up 8%, due to higher production at INO in Canada's Sudbury mining district and the continued ramp-up at Koniambo in New Caledonia.

Ferrochrome production was 652,000 tonnes, up 16%, reflecting increased capacity in South Africa.

Coal output rose 5% to 71.2 million tonnes, with an expansion at its Australian mines mitigating some the impact of a 32–day strike at its Cerrejón mine in Colombia.